


Shifting Hearts

by Bookdancer



Series: Andreil Week 2019 [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: (it's a description of neil shifting), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Andreil Week 2019, Andrew's POV but it's close third, Angst, Day 1, Don't copy to another site, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Shapeshifter Neil, Very Brief Body Horror, but it's not more than you'd read in the actual books, i tagged graphic descriptions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 13:12:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19724353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookdancer/pseuds/Bookdancer
Summary: Andrew was a quarter dwarf, another quarter elf, and 100% an asshole who was trying to keep his gods-forsaken family together without letting on that he actually somewhat cared for them. Neil was a shapeshifter with nothing better to do than run. Somewhere along the way, Andrew supposed it would be in both their best interests if he convinced the rabbit to stay.





	Shifting Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for the 2019 andreil week, day 1: fantasy au | magic au
> 
> shoutout to american authors for letting me listen to their albums several times over while writing this
> 
> also thanks to @queenofmoons67 (tumblr handle) for being the best beta
> 
> i do not own the foxhole court, and i’ve also cross-posted this fic to ff.net (Bookdancer) and tumblr (@bookdancerfics)
> 
> this also happens to be my first published andreil fic (emphasis on published, i have more in the works)
> 
> finally, yes that is a pun for the title. i hope you all enjoy the fic!

Nicky was the one to find to him, pulling a tiny rabbit from the brush surrounding their camp even as he cooed over it. Andrew took one look at abnormally blue eyes and knocked the thing from his cousin’s hands. He shoved Nicky out of the way, pulled out his sword, and leveled the sharp end at the point between the rabbit’s eyes.

“ _Andrew_!” Nicky whined, and the rest of the camp finally stirred behind them.

“Who are you?” Andrew asked. The rabbit’s ears twitched at him, but stared back impassively.

“It’s a rabbit,” Aaron said, joining them.

“Put the sword away,” Matt said. He squatted next to Andrew and held his hand out, like he wanted the rabbit to sniff it.

Andrew rolled his eyes and didn’t move. Matt could get his hand bitten off for all he cared, but he wouldn’t let his guard down around a creature so obviously not what it appeared.

“Who are you?” he said again, demanding this time. “If you don’t answer, I’ll just kill you and be done with it. I’ve been craving rabbit stew for a while now.”

“An _drew_ ,” Nicky whined again.

Andrew just moved his sword closer to the rabbit.

Then, before their eyes, the thing started growing bigger.

“What the fuck,” someone else said, probably Allison by the sound of it, but he didn’t bother looking away from the _thing_ to check.

It kept growing, and then started losing fur. Not shedding it, but taking it in, the hair slipping back under skin until only the head was still covered with distinctively auburn, _human_ hair. Its limbs grew longer, and Andrew just caught a glimpse of what looked like five fingers and toes before the creature — _shapeshifter_ — curled into itself. Himself. Theirself.

When the shifter was done, they sat crouched in the grass, poised on their toes with their arms embracing their own legs. Their head was bent, so Andrew couldn’t get a good look at their face, but he knew he would see the same blue eyes as before peering out at him.

“What a shame,” he said, finally lowering his sword, “that a shapeshifter such as yourself wasn’t born with a more natural eye color. Perhaps otherwise you might have had a chance of staying hidden.”

The shifter only shrugged, tan shoulders rising and falling as fast as they breathed. If Andrew had blinked he may have missed it.

Andrew gazed at them, then looked up at Nicky, who only just remembered to close his mouth. “Get them a blanket.”

“Wha—?” Nicky said, looking at him. It must have said something about both of them, how Nicky managed to look up at him despite being several inches taller, but Andrew wasn’t ready to think about it.

“A blanket,” Andrew repeated. “Before I get bored.”

“Here,” Renee said, and Andrew turned. She stood on his right, with the rest of the group that Andrew hadn’t promised anything to. A blanket hung from her grip. Andrew hadn’t sensed her get it, so she must have either anticipated its need or had it for reasons Andrew couldn’t think of.

He took the blanket, then turned back to the shifter. They hadn’t moved, not even a little, and Andrew was almost disappointed. Here he thought he may have gotten to have some fun. Instead he swung it over the shifter’s body, covering their bare skin.

And, finally, they looked up.

Their eyes were just as blue as Andrew remembered.

* * *

The interrogation went quickly, and was no where near as brutal as Andrew would have liked it to be.

Dan, as the leader of their rag-tag group, assumed authority as soon as Andrew had proved his point about the rabbit not actually being a rabbit. She wasn’t gentle, but she wasn’t Andrew, either.

She got the shifter’s name, determined that he was not, in fact, in league with the Moriyamas, and had just stumbled across their camp by chance, and then let him roam free around the area.

Andrew had no such plan.

“So,” he said that night. The shifter, Neil Josten, had been fitted into a mix of Andrew, Aaron, and Renee’s clothes. Renee’s pants, because they were slightly too long but longer than Andrew or Aaron’s would be. Aaron’s boots, because he had a spare pair that were actually kind of clean. And Andrew’s shirt, which was only just long enough but somehow still too big, hanging off thin shoulders and a lean frame where it normally hugged muscle.

The group of nine — ten now — grouped around the campfire. One of the few perks of traveling with a warlock, Andrew reflected. Kevin didn’t always like using magic to solve his problems, because he claimed he didn’t want to get reliant on it, but he was equally obsessive about maintaining wards around their camps, including ones that kept them and their fire hidden. The camp itself sat in a clearing in the middle of a forest, the trees thick with the chatter of nocturnal animals.

On Andrew’s left, Kevin leaned close to the fire, huddling into the warmth. Nicky and Aaron sat on Kevin’s other side. The rest of their group completed the circle, extending from Aaron all the way to Neil. Matt sat next to their newest addition, but Andrew had claimed Neil’s other side before anyone else could.

“So,” Neil said back. He sat perfectly in the middle between Andrew and Matt, not too close to either of them. His dinner, which Andrew had noticed was ironicallya rabbit Seth and Matt had caught earlier, was already gone. Andrew knew most of it had been scarfed down in minutes, but he also knew the rest sat in Neil’s pockets, the sauce congealing and dirtying Renee’s pants. Andrew had no doubt that no one besides Neil was supposed to know about the hidden food. Andrew, though, didn’t much care.

Andrew put his head in his hands and then shifted to get a better look at Neil. He tapped his chin with one finger, holding Neil’s gaze. Neil stared back, long enough that anyone else probably would have gotten uncomfortable. Long enough that when Neil finally did look away, Andrew knew it was because he chose to and not because Andrew forced him to.

“What?” Neil asked.

Andrew hummed and let his lips quirk slightly. “Just trying to figure out why such an _esteemed_ person such as yourself would be traveling while shifted. Didn’t want anyone to know where you were? Or didn’t want anyone to be able to recognize you?”

Neil stiffened. _Bingo_. “It’s much safer like that.”

“I almost skewered you for dinner,” Andrew pointed out, and picked his own piece of rabbit up just to wave it around.

Neil shrugged. “Most of the time, then.”

“Leave him be, Andrew,” Dan called. She sounded annoyed, and Andrew let his expression close.

* * *

The next morning, when they had all packed up and Kevin took down the wards, Neil joined Andrew at the back of the group. Dan and Matt stayed at the front, Seth and Allison just behind them. Then Kevin, who Renee seemed to be keeping a gentle eye on, and then finally Nicky and Aaron.

“So where are you all going?” Neil asked.

Andrew couldn’t tell if the inflection in Neil’s voice was concern, or curiosity, or something else.

“If I answer your questions, will you answer mine?” Andrew asked instead.

Neil shrugged. “I can think of a lot of things a lot worse than a truth for a truth.”

Andrew thought of what he’d been willing to do to their latest group addition just yesterday, and had to agree.

“The Foxhole Court,” he said. He didn’t elaborate. “Why a rabbit?”

Neil hummed and ducked under a low hanging branch. “It’s fast.”

“Yet you didn’t try to escape yesterday.”

Neil sent him a wry look. “It’s not that fast.”

Andrew just nodded; he couldn’t deny the fact that if Neil’s rabbit had so much as twitched wrong, let alone tried to escape, he would have found one of Andrew’s knives in his spine.

“Why the Foxhole Court?” Neil asked. “It’s not exactly the strongest castle in these parts.”

“We don’t need strong,” Andrew said. “We need a stronghold with good defense to regroup in. Who are you running from?”

The look Neil gave him then wasn’t wry, but sharp. Cautious. Speaking of defense. “How do you know I’m running from someone?”

Andrew snorted. “You’re a rabbit. That’s what rabbits do. Answer the question.”

Neil paused, then slowed his pace. The rest of the group got farther ahead of them, but they were still in sight, so Andrew let Neil have his space.

They walked for a few more minutes before Neil finally spoke.

“My father.”

Andrew gave him a cursory glance, raking his gaze from feet to head and back down again. He didn’t see any scars. He didn’t think he’d seen any scars the night before, either, but then he also hadn’t seen Neil’s torso. Plenty of scars could be hidden by clothes or a carefully positioned blanket.

“Kevin’s obviously an elf,” Neil said eventually, breaking the silence.

Andrew hummed.

“The rest of you look human, or mostly human.” This time Neil was the one to give Andrew a look. “Are you?”

“If you must know,” Andrew said. It wasn’t like revealing who was human and who wasn’t would actually give away advantages or disadvantages. “I’m a tiefling.”

Neil gave him a _look_. Andrew smiled, his mouth harsh.

“Half human,” he allowed. “A quarter elf. Quarter dwarf. You can see which side I take after.”

He raised his arms to gesture at himself, sarcastic. Neil snorted, then covered his mouth. Andrew gave him a toothy smile.

“You can probably guess Aaron,” Andrew continued, “and if you say you can’t I may hit you. Nicky is half human, half elf. I honestly don’t know about the others, but you’re free to ask. Why are you traveling with us?”

Neil didn’t answer right away, instead pausing just long enough for them to go around a tree and then meet back up again. Several feet in front of them, Kevin looked back, like he was doing something as silly as checking to make sure Andrew was still there. In response Andrew stuck his tongue out. Kevin scowled, but turned back around.

“They’re only looking for one of me,” Neil said finally. “Not a group of ten.”

“They,” Andrew said. He said it like a statement, not a question, but he knew Neil heard it anyway.

“It’s not your turn,” Neil said.

Andrew stayed silent, letting the quiet answer for him.

* * *

After a week of walking, the Foxhole Court loomed in the distance, just peaking through the gaps in the trees. Still, Dan called the group to a halt and a chorus of relieved sighs followed.

“Finally,” Nicky said. He collapsed to the ground with a theatrical groan.

“Get back up, Hemmick,” Dan said. She heaved her pack to the foot of a tree and looked around. “We have a lot of work to do.”

That was an understatement, Andrew reflected not ten minutes later. They hadn’t been lucky enough to find a clearing like the night before, so they had to make due with camping between the trees and bushes. There would be no fire that night, not because they couldn’t afford one, but because they would be lucky to light one and not have it turn into a wildfire.

Andrew’s tent was the skinniest it had ever been, squeezed between two trees, and the others hadn’t fared any better. Even Kevin, perfectionist as he was, was struggling with the wards. Normally he could just find the boundary between clearing and trees and then set the wards, but a lack of clearing made that difficult. Kevin had to set one ward in a specific area and then move on to set it in the next area, until he’d made a whole circle around the camp. And he had at least ten different types of wards to set.

Andrew sat back against one of the trees bordering his tent, deciding to watch everyone else set up camp. Even Neil, newbie that he was, got roped into helping with dinner.

Kevin had only gotten halfway through the wards when Neil’s head snapped up. There was a look in his eyes, one that Andrew didn’t need to be close to in order to identify it. He only had a split second to hope he was wrong for once before the forest exploded in a flurry of activity.

People dressed in all black fell in on them from the side of camp Kevin hadn’t warded yet, an infuriatingly smug face at the head of the new group. Steel flashed, and Andrew just caught a glimpse of Renee taking the lead of the others before the Ravens of Edgar Allan were on them.

Andrew drew his own sword, swiftly dispatching one opponent and then another. He caught a glimpse of Nicky in his peripheral vision and wheeled toward him. Aaron was with Nicky, and Andrew’s heart settled in his chest for a brief moment despite himself. It only took a moment to snag Kevin’s sleeve and drag him into their small group. They huddled back to back, Andrew taking on most of the Ravens, but the others were skilled with their own weapons and it showed, no matter what Andrew or even Kevin would say in training.

Kevin wielded his magic with what would be startling efficiency, if Andrew didn’t know him. If Andrew didn’t know where Kevin had grown up. Where Kevin had trained for most of his life.

Aaron had a sword, too, although he wasn’t as used to fighting outside of training as Andrew was. Nicky used a heavy, wooden staff, and although he was nowhere near as trained as Kevin or Andrew, Andrew couldn’t say he would ever envy anyone who got in the way of the staff.

An arrow whistled by, courtesy of Allison, and hit one of the men trying to one-up Andrew. Andrew stuck his sword in the chest of the other. In the brief reprieve that followed, he tugged his two largest knives from the bands around his forearms. He was good with a sword, always would be, but he was more comfortable with the knives.

Still, with as many people as the Moriyamas had brought — Andrew counted close to forty — they had barely made a dent when he heard Nicky breathe in sharply.

“I would stop,” Riko said. His voice carried over the battle easily, but Andrew still would have ignored him if it weren’t for everyone else slowing, and then doing exactly what the enemy told them to.

When he turned to see what everyone else did, sharp blue eyes met his. They were wide, a contrast to Neil’s otherwise calm face. They betrayed him even when the rest of his body didn’t, just like they had the night before. Andrew couldn’t help but wonder if Neil ever got tired of having such blue eyes.

“Kevin,” Riko said, drawing out the name. Andrew very carefully didn’t step in front of their warlock. “Hand yourself over, or I gut the little fox.”

“You’re not that tall yourself, you know,” Neil said, and then blinked hard, like he couldn’t believe he had actually said anything. He got cuffed over the head for his troubles, and Riko scowled, but Andrew let his lips quirk just slightly, making sure that Riko could see just how amused he was.

In the next second, Neil disappeared. Andrew and the others all erupted at once, pouncing on the stunned Ravens. Riko looked around wildly, almost comically, obviously trying to figure out just where his hostage had gone. Andrew reflected back on the previous night, when Neil had taken a full minute to shift, and then how Neil had only taken a second to shift just now. What else could he have done? The time difference certainly said a lot, though. Whether Neil had been overly cautious with them, or something else, Andrew didn’t know. But he was going to find out.

Riko’s face contorted into a nasty scowl, and Andrew knew he had found what he was looking for. Andrew dove forward, ready to defend what was his — and Neil _was_ his now, had spent a week walking by his side and answering his questions and not sticking any of them with one of their own weapons. And, most importantly, he hadn’t forced Kevin to make a choice between himself and Neil. Hadn’t forced Andrew to sacrifice _his_ for a promise made to a cowardly warlock with too many demons.

Even as Andrew made his move, though, Riko’s face twisted with satisfaction, and a loud, piercing, barking cry* sounded above all of the fighting. Even after it changed to intermittent, softer cries*, the original scream echoed in Andrew’s ears.

Andrew flew at Riko, hating how the sound that must have come from Neil still burned in his chest. What business did it have being there? What business did it have making him — Andrew refused to finish the thought. Instead, he stabbed a knife through Riko’s hand, pinning it to the ground, and relished in the howl that the action wrought.

Then he turned, looking for Neil, for blue blue eyes that stood out even while shifted, and he found —

Andrew stopped, and his face twitched.

“Anyone else would leave you here for that,” he told Neil, but he picked up the still crying fox all the same and curled it close to his chest.

He didn’t even spare a glance for Riko, or the clothes that Neil was leaving behind. Instead he headed into the trees, snagging Kevin’s sleeve on his way and counting on Aaron and Nicky and the others to follow.

Riko screamed behind them, furious and in pain, and Andrew let go of Neil’s shifted fox with one hand just long enough to flip the Raven off.

* * *

“He can’t shift back yet,” Aaron, their resident healer, said, once they were far enough away to be deemed somewhat safe. Andrew stayed at the back of the group, his eyes trained on the trail they’d left behind. Neil lay on Matt’s outer shirt. For such a small fox, he’d lost a lot of blood, and even then Aaron insisted that leaving the knife in his side was the only thing that could possibly save him.

“Why not?” Dan asked, a touch of concern in her voice.

“He’s too weak right now,” Aaron explained. “If he shifted back right now it could kill him.”

“So he’s dead weight,” Seth said.

Andrew’s teeth clenched, but he didn’t protest.

“He saved Kevin, dummy,” Nicky said.

Andrew wasn’t looking, but even he knew Seth had his mouth open to say something foul when Matt interrupted him.

“I’ll carry him; no one else has to.”

And that, apparently, was that.

They journeyed to the Court through the night, changing the order of their procession depending on who was carrying the fox, but most of the time Matt took the middle, keeping his word, while Andrew guarded their backs.

* * *

The Foxhole Court was gaudy, even in the low light of dawn. Some idiot had thought building it out of yellow quartz was a good idea, and the results were pale, orangish walls that reflected any light they could grab. Bright orange banners flew from the towers, white foxes centered on each one. The castle was home of King Charles Whittier**, but everyone knew the true might of the Court came from its battlemaster, Sir David Wymack. Not that “true might” really meant anything when it came to the Foxhole Court; as good as its defense was, its offense was severely lacking, and it had a habit of accepting strangers into its walls no matter how dangerous they appeared. Sir Wymack called it second chances. Andrew called it stupidity.

Even Andrew had to admit that the Court’s ways were about to come in handy, though, because as soon as their group came into view, the portcullis was raised, granting them access inside the castle’s perimeter.

Neil, who had been blessedly if not concernedly quiet for the past hour, finally let out another one of his soft barking cries.

“Shh,” Matt said, but hurried forward all the same. The rest of them picked up speed with him, even Seth and Andrew.

They entered the castle to the sound of trumpets, the rising sun at their backs.

* * *

Neil took a full week to heal, a couple days dedicated to being a fox, having Aaron and Abby, the Court’s healer, carefully remove the knife from his side, and then more than a couple days on forced bed rest as a human.

“I’m fine,” he said as soon as he shifted back, but Andrew watched Aaron and Abby exchange an exasperated look and knew that Neil was lying.

“Sure,” Andrew said. “And I’m a bard.”

Neil looked at him blankly.

“I mean,” Neil said. “You could be.”

Andrew looked back. “I’m not.”

“But you _could_ be.”

Andrew rolled his eyes and left.

* * *

Andrew was back the next day, all the same, not that he let Neil know. He stayed outside the infirmary until Aaron came out for a break, then asked him questions until he got annoyed.

“If you really want to know,” Aaron finally snapped. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

Andrew gave Aaron the same stare he’d given Neil the day before, then left.

* * *

By the end of the week, Andrew was most familiar with the route from the group’s borrowed quarters to the infirmary. Not that he need to be _familiar_ with it to know it, but he was.

When Abby and Aaron finally kicked Neil from the infirmary, Andrew was waiting in the corridor outside, leaning against the stone wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t entirely sure of why he wanted to question Neil so much, but he did, so there they were.

Andrew led Neil to the roof of the tallest tower, and then they just sat there. One of the Court’s orange flags flapped brazenly in the wind behind them. The clouds rolled across the sky. The guards on the walkway below them changed shifts three times.

Neil left, only to return with dinner. He handed one plate to Andrew and kept the other. Andrew refused to thank him.

When the sun set, they still hadn’t said a word, but Andrew was sure the distance between them had been larger when they first sat there.

* * *

Andrew met Neil back up on the tower the next day, and that time Neil practiced his shifting while Andrew practiced with his knives.

“You were slow on purpose,” Andrew said finally, and Neil turned from bright-eyed sparrow to wary human. Andrew waited for him to get the blanket situated before continuing. “That first night, when you shifted back from a rabbit.”

Neil shrugged. “Yeah. I didn’t want to startle anyone. I figured taking it slow was best.”

Andrew let his lips twitch. “You didn’t want to get stabbed, you mean.”

Neil rolled his eyes. “Next time, _you_ try standing there with something sharp held to your person, and see how well you do with that. The goal is usually not to get stabbed, so yes, I took it slow.”

* * *

They spent most days up on the tower after that, and as a result the next two weeks passed by slowly. Sometimes they asked questions, and Andrew learned that Neil’s mom was dead, that he had in fact tried to change the color of his eyes through his shifting, but he hadn’t been successful, and that Neil had spent most of his life running.

Andrew told Neil that he and Aaron had been separated for most of their lives, that Andrew had promised Kevin that he would protect him, that they had stumbled across Renee’s group on accident but decided to travel together when they realized they had a common enemy and the same destination.

And then, when the sun was at its highest point in the sky, Andrew stopped fighting. He looked at Neil, at auburn hair and tan skin, at a shifter who had only ever known how to run but still held a sharp tongue, at truth for a truth, at blood spilled in the name of strangers — Andrew’s lot. And he wondered why a rabbit couldn’t be convinced to stay.

He leaned back on his hands, studying Neil.

“Yes or no?” Andrew asked.

Neil glanced at him, the surprise on his face obvious, and he opened his mouth only to stop, his gaze caught in Andrew’s.

“I trust you,” Neil said instead, but Andrew shook his head.

“I want to kiss you,” Andrew said. Neil’s mouth opened again, and he drew his eyebrows together and tilted his head.

“What?”

“I want to kiss you,” Andrew said again. Neil closed his mouth. Andrew stared at him. “Yes or no?”

Neil slowly nodded, then caught Andrew’s eye. He must have read something there, because he nodded again. “Yes.”

Andrew nodded back, then leaned in, his eyes closed.

Trumpets sounded abruptly and Andrew pulled up short, blinking his eyes open to find Neil’s mouth bare inches from his. Neil smiled at him, but it was tired instead of soft, and Andrew would kiss him if it weren’t for the clear alarm coming from the watch tower, if they both hadn’t stopped.

“I guess it has to be a no, then,” Neil said. Andrew nodded, forcefully keeping his expression blank even as his chest thrummed. Neil gazed at him, and Andrew looked back. Neil’s smile eased. “At least for now.”

“What are you both doing?” a familiar voice yelled, and Andrew tilted his head until he could see Kevin below them, racing along the walkway. “The Court’s being attacked!”

Andrew rose to his feet, smooth, and followed his promise. Neil fell into step beside him, and neither of them said anything. Andrew didn’t even look at him. Whatever it was between them — and it was nothing, Andrew was sure — could be resolved at a later time. After the battle. Before then, he had some Ravens to kill.

* * *

It wasn’t the Ravens.

The Ravens brought armies, brought red flags with black ravens, brought spears and drums and arrows to pick off the enemy before the swords could scavenge for spare lives. Riko’s attack in the forest had been a fluke, pride and certainty coming before strategy and numbers.

This was a mercenary army, low in numbers but high in bloodlust, a bright blue flag at the front with no symbol.

On Andrew’s right, Neil clenched the battlements with white-knuckled fingers and took several heaving breaths.

“It’s the Butcher,” Neil said, and Andrew noted another piece of the puzzle. He let it go for the battle, but he would be back. He had more questions.

On Andrew’s left, Kevin shot a startled look at Neil, and Andrew watched as something like recognition clicked in Kevin’s eyes. Neil seemed to see it, too, because he glared at Kevin.

Andrew had many more questions.

A grappling hook fell next to Neil’s hands, and Andrew cut the rope, watching with satisfaction as the man in Butcher blue fell below.

After that, the battle was a blur. Andrew cut and swiped his way through the Butcher’s men, made them bleed more for every drop he shed. He kept Kevin at his back, did his best to keep Neil at his side, but then between one moment and the next, the rabbit/fox/blue-eyed-shifter was gone.

He didn’t reappear, even after the last of the Butcher’s men fell. Even after Andrew grabbed Kevin’s arm and shook him, then grabbed Kevin’s throat and shook that, too.

When Renee finally got him to drop Kevin, the warlock just stared up at him with big, round eyes.

“It’s the Butcher,” Kevin croaked, and Andrew came to the startling realization that the blue banner laying in the dirt was the same color as Neil’s eyes.

* * *

They stormed the Butcher’s camp not three hours later, Andrew leading the charge with bandages around his bloody knuckles, Kevin not far behind with bruises circling his neck. The rest of their group, Andrew’s lot and Renee’s, and Sir Wymack and a handful of Court knights, charged in after them.

Andrew did his best to reign destruction, coating blue with red until it bled purple. The Butcher’s men held, and held, and held, until a man exited the far tent wearing Neil’s blue eyes, and Neil’s auburn hair, and chainmail so new it would have shone if not for the blood spatter.

The next thing Andrew knew, he had a knife at the man’s throat and an axe at his own ribs.

“Neil,” Andrew said, and he didn’t see even a glimmer of recognition in the Butcher’s eyes but he forged on anyway. “Where is he.”

“There’s no Neil here,” the Butcher said.

“I told you,” Kevin hissed behind him. The warlock had three mercenaries held in his magic, and Andrew may have actually been proud of him if it weren’t for what he was saying. “His name is Nathaniel.”

“It’s _Neil_ ,” Andrew snapped back, but at his knife’s edge the Butcher was smiling, as sharp as the axe at Andrew’s side.

“Ah,” he said. “Nathaniel. My son has been very bad, you see, so I’m afraid I’ve had to have him disciplined. Perhaps he can visit you when he understands what he did wrong.”

“Ah,” Andrew parroted back, and he smiled up at the Butcher, just as sharp. “See, that’s not what I was asking.”

He stabbed forward with his knife, and he knew the Butcher was doing the same with the axe, but in the end the larger man was the only one bleeding. The three men Kevin had held lay at the feet of Nicky, Aaron, and Matt, and Kevin’s own magic wrapped around the axe, keeping it from gutting Andrew.

Kevin stared at Andrew, his eyes somehow even larger than they’d been all day. Andrew didn’t bother responding, instead walking through the camp until he reached the tent that the Butcher had exited. There was a woman inside, holding a flaming branch to Neil’s face, and Andrew didn’t hesitate to throw the one knife he was still holding. She fell back and didn’t get up again.

“Neil,” Andrew said, and blue eyes looked back at him. Not the Butcher’s eyes, Andrew told himself. Not Butcher blue. Neil’s blue.

“Andrew,” Neil rasped.

He looked terrible, if Andrew was being honest. His left cheek was horribly burned, and enough torn cloth around his arms told Andrew that most of the blood was his. But he was alive. They could take care of anything else later.

Wordlessly, Andrew hauled Neil to his feet. He tucked one shoulder under Neil’s arm, and Neil leaned into him in response.

“Thank you,” Neil whispered to him.

They left the tent, and Andrew stared out at the wrecked camp, at Kevin and Nicky and Aaron and all the others waiting for them. Nicky was chattering about something to Aaron, while Kevin looked around with a strange expression on his face that Andrew may have called freedom if he didn’t know that the Moriyamas and their Ravens were still out there.

“For what?” Andrew asked, and they moved forward.

Neil hummed. “For all of this.”

Andrew looked around the camp again. Several of the Court knights had been injured, but not fatally, and Renee’s lot were at least still standing. All of the casualties wore blue. The Butcher still lay where Andrew had left him. The woman who had been torturing Neil was drowning in her own blood, if she hadn’t died already.

He looked back at Neil, and although Neil’s answering smile was still tired, still slow, Andrew could see how it crinkled the corners of his eyes.

“This?” Andrew asked.

“This,” Neil confirmed, and looked back at the destruction. Back at the foxes. The Court glimmered in the far distance. “It’s amazing.”

And, once Andrew had his lot settled back at the castle, once all of their wounds had been bound, once King Whittier and Sir Wymack had both promised to let them stay within the safety of the walls, to guard them from the Ravens until they could take them down like they had the Butcher’s men, once all that was done: Then, finally, Andrew sat next to Neil at the top of one of the Foxhole’s towers, and pressed his lips to Neil’s.

**Author's Note:**

> * in case any of you want to hear what sound i chose, this is apparently a fox’s distress call (warning: this sound actually broke my heart): http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/thefoxden/redfox_distress.wav
> 
> * the second cry: http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/thefoxden/cry.wav
> 
> ** what do you know, psu’s president actually has a name
> 
> i’m also so sorry, i wrote this in two days and as a result it’s kind of rushed, but i hope you all enjoyed nonetheless
> 
> and please don’t be afraid to drop a note, i love comments
> 
> i also have a tumblr, @bookdancerfics, so feel free to drop by there, too. sometimes i post writing updates


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